NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 03:54 PM) A number of states are letting public roads return to gravel to avoid having to spend money on upkeep. and I'm actually OK with that. Rural Illinois has a lot of paved roads that get very little traffic. I'd rather target the funds that might go to constant repaving, to instead work on bridges, heavily used roads, efficiency projects in transporation, etc.

Rem had surgery on 7/15, and is rehabbing now. Still hopes to be ready for early ST in Feb.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 03:25 PM) The stimulus was an absolute waste. 750 billion dollars of spending, and hardly any of it went towards infrastructure improvement (what, 50 billion worth?) I gave you the list the other day of wasteful spending (so far). Thanks for repaving that highway in the middle of central illinois Mr. President. Way to keep those government employees on the job working on unecessary projects. That really helped. The stimulus has been a complete fail to this point. It was sold to the American people as a necessary evil to create jobs. It's created nothing to this point. Unemployment has gone up since that bill was signed, not down. Its not that the projects themselves were bad - highway work is needed here and there. Its that they aren't sustainable, and don't create newer, better jobs in the future. That's where they seriously f***ed up - going exclusively short term in their thinking. That all said though, I would not say its a complete fail. Data is showing that UE would have been a little worse, and the added cash in the economy has helped prevent an even worse recession. So not a complete fail - just not a raving success either.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 03:20 PM) If you're going to ignore "The Senate" as the obvious candidate there, then there's really not much else to talk about. Who said anything about ignoring anything? Quite the contrary, its obvious you will choose to ignore all other options but one, while I was saying there were multiple underlying reasons.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 02:59 PM) And again...why would you say that is? Multiple reasons. There is no one, shiny object to blame here.

QUOTE (Cali @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 02:43 PM) They struggled to win more than 3 in a row the 1st two months of the season a lot of times....So it can happen again. I want to be proven wrong, though.... If you said "it could happen", I'd agree with you. You said they didn't even have it in them to win more than that, which I find pretty over the top.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 02:48 PM) My issue with the bailout was the fact that they pushed it through without thinking. They basically said, ok wall street, you really f***ed yourself (and the country in the process), so we're going to bail you out. But there was no step 2 in the planning. They could have used that opportunity to set some major reforms and requirements to get that money, but instead it was short-term loans and then back to business as usual, especially for the biggest financial institutions in the country. That had to be a phase 2, there was no time in that situation to work out the other stuff. But I certainly agree that the regulations and changes that needed to follow it, have been disappointing at best.

QUOTE (Cali @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 01:43 PM) I honestly don't think this team has it in them to win anymore than 3 games in a row for the rest of the season.... They had a hot streak and they just couldn't sustain it. It happens, it sucks, but it happens. A team that put up a 25-5 run, and was sustained good for like 2 months, and you don't think they have it in them to win more than 3 straight again? How does that make sense? The only personnel changes since the big run started are Teahen (who is hitting again) for Viciedo, Jackson (who has been very good) for Hudson, and Sale (who looks darn good so far) for Threets. Do you think those moves somehow killed the Sox? If not, I fail to see your logic.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 01:33 PM) And yet, all things considered...it's been remarkably successful at pushing back the onset of deflation by nearly a year and a half. QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 01:35 PM) Stim bills are always seen as poorly executed - because a good stim bill tends to phase in progress. This one did that, it just unfortunately wasn't quite big enough in actual spending for jobs. Note that I said "poorly executed", not that it was a bad idea generally. Yes, it phased things in. Yes, the cash influx helped stave off deflation, though I am not 100% sure that was as big a danger as it was hyped to be. Poorly executed means the details weren't well done. You could have had both those benefits AND built something more sustainable, if the stim bill had less emphasis on temporary construction jobs and more on long term business efforts.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 01:19 PM) sorry, i meant the stimulus bill, not the bailout. though both were equally retarded IMO The "bailout", as in TARP, was not only a necessity, but it was one of the more successful programs the government put in place in recent memory. They allocated $750B, used only about $200B, have gotten back almost $150B of that with interest, and will probably only have a final cost of around $40B last I looked. And considering the dire consequences of inaction, that was highly worth it. Now the Stim bill, on the other hand, was poorly executed and a huge wasted opportunity.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 01:08 PM) So to push the bailout and healthcare reform Obama and the dems weren't selling the "omg if we don't do something there's going to be a catastrophe?" line? I mean i agree, the GOP is running with (not creating, a key difference) the anger of its base about the policies being implemented. But we're talking about basic political tactics here. I said a lot more, not singularly. The Dems do it too, just not to the same extent. That's my read on it. And the bailout stuff started under Bush anyway, and that was fear that was pretty well founded.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 12:29 PM) Please. Like any party has actual policy to run on. The GOP is using the playbook of the Dems in 2004 and 2008 - b**** and moan without offering any real alternatives other than the opposite of what's happening now. (And it's not like the Dems came up with that tactic on their own). And what more is there to say on the economy? It still sucks and Obama's crazy spending hasn't helped anything. I'll ignore the "Obama's crazy spending" part since his spending has been no more crazy than his predecessor. But you are right on the first part - there is very little difference. The Dems ran in 2008 on, primarily, we aren't Bush. The GOP is running primarily in 2010 on "we aren't Obama". There is some subtle difference, in that the GOP has been a lot more about blockading and bringing government to a halt, where as the Dems capitulated to a lot of GOP s*** in Bush's time - for good or for bad. But the overall themes are mostly similar. Actually, I'll add one more important difference, and this one is one of the reasons why its been a lot harder for me to vote GOP the last few cycles. The GOP has focused a lot more on fear and anger, the lowest common denominators, than the Dems have. That does bother me.

Yeah, there is a huge difference between 1/3 and 0/3. We get swept, and we are in deep trouble. We win only 1, that's still bad, but not catastrophic. Winning 2 of 3 would be fantastic.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 10:09 AM) Link. Also, this reminds me, saw an interesting graphic on npr's site today. Talks about how most of the progress made so far in alt energy has been done by the states... and shows a map of goal levels, and actual performance levels, of % electricity generated by renewables, by state. I figured the top states would be out west, where population and demand is low, and there is so much opportunity for solar and wind. But as it turns out, the top 2 states are Maine and Iowa. Also interesting, I was shocked to see how high the %'s actually are - there are a number of states well over 10%, and quite a few more in the 5-10% range. Graphic.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 10:09 AM) Link. Idiotic on so many levels. We're passing on a huge opportunity to be in front of a wave that could be an economic boom for the US.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 13, 2010 -> 02:56 PM) No way they're getting that high. They're at 26,400 right now. They'd have to average 31,500 to get to 28ish. There's still series at home against the Orioles and Royals coming up, along with 3 final games against the Indians. This past weekend against a DET team that is not in the race: 34834 36548 36287 Now averaging 26901. NYY for 3 and BOS for 4 will be big, MIN 3 series will be big. DET shows it should be pretty big from what we just saw, have 3 against them. KC not as much but its a weekend with fireworks, so that will be decent. The only series left that looks even remotely questionable are BAL for 3 mid-week, and the CLE series to end the year (but that could be big if the division goes to the wire). They need to average about

I will say one thing that seems different with this team than some other recent ones - they have more fight in them. They don't roll over in games nearly as often as others have, and then keep at it. That and their strength in pitching (despite recent struggles) means they will be in it to the end. Definitely not time to give up yet.

So over the weekend, went with my family, including our daughter, to one of these suburban town festival things. Rides, games, parade, music, food, etc., the usual stuff. Anyway, there's one ride that is playing particularly loud music, and as I'm standing there watching my kid go around on some other ride, I notice the loud one starts playing the Bloodhound Gang. Specifically, that song where the chorus is "you and me baby ain't nothing but mammals...", and well, you probably all know the rest. And I mean, this wasn't an edited version - this had all the lyrics, blasting out over about eight bazillion kids. I'm looking around, and I swear, I think my wife and I were the only ones who noticed that this was a little odd. How did no one else notice this?

Wow, Serafin went from solid in Low A to awful in High A.

QUOTE (OilCan @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 09:32 PM) Question for our "prospect experts". Is Morel as equal as Robin Ventura defensively? Do you think Morel can become that well versed defensively? If Morel can hit for a high average and hit 10-15 HRs every year and play great defense at 3rd, that would be very, very good for the Pale Hose. Ventura is a multiple GG winner and was among the elite defensive 3B's during his time in the majors. No way you can project any minor leaguer for that level of play. Its possible, that is a huge stretch. By all accounts his defense is very good, though I admit I've only seen a few video clips myself, so I wouldn't say I'm an expert. We'll have to see how he does in the majors.

Heidenreich is like a completely different pitcher from last year to this year at Bristol. Nice to see.

QUOTE (KipWellsFan @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 12:29 AM) Yah and that crazy judge who voted against the Nevada law and then released a press release about it! What horrible people. Kudos to Obama for standing up against ignorance, prejudice, fear, and political expediency. I think mr_g was being sarcastic there.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 13, 2010 -> 11:20 PM) Of course they are. Just remember what you ask for, you just might get it... and what you people don't realize is this whole agenda is not what you think it is. But thanks for playing. Please, tell all of us peons what we apparently don't realize.

QUOTE (Cali @ Aug 13, 2010 -> 05:13 PM) Isn't he a little old for that league? EDIT: Based on that video, someone was a fan of Ken Griffey Jr. 21 isn't really "old" for any level. He's not a youngin', he's not a high school draftee, but if he's in A ball next year at 22, he'll be on track.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Aug 13, 2010 -> 04:30 PM) Yeah, but Vizquel has helped Alexei in his fielding, not his hitting. And if you can hit, you will always have a job in the majors, but not necessarily if you are just a good fielder (Brian Anderson). Its definitely impressive. As some of the other regulars in the FS forum can attest, I was not sold on Escobar for some time, and tended to rank him lower than others did, because I saw nothing to lead me to believe his bat would play at all. But that has improved with time, and it seems I may have been wrong. Happens a lot.